one
Chen Shi first appeared as a historical concept. Those who take history as their name first appeared in Song Naian's History of Jingkang, followed by Biography of Chen Shi in Yuan Dynasty, Biography of Chen Shi in Ugly Yuan Dynasty, Collection of Chen Shi in Ming Dynasty, History of Ji Yuan Dynasty by Sun Zi and Huang Shang.
Tang Shen's preface to the history of Liao Zi and Tang Que said:
There are many emperors and famous cultural relics, and the Han Dynasty alone is enough for Rotary to hold the hub. Jin, Wei, Zhou and Sui all declined, how can it be true! So from the beginning of martial arts, Zhenguan, and then, many people took it as a short record of novels, unofficial history's history books, miscellaneous miscellaneous books to attract baskets. Zhenyuan and Dali have been there, and everything has been packed. Some can be praised, ridiculed and admonished, but they are not written in books and can be remembered. Those elegant ones in Taishi are no longer recorded.
Accordingly, the category of Chen Shi in The History of Tang Que is Unscribed and Taishi, that is, the posthumous works that are not recorded in New Official History. It can be praised, joked and admonished, and its status is similar to that of novel, unofficial history and admonished. For the definition of "Chen Shi", the Preface to the Collection of Confucianism and Chen Shi in the Ming and Zhou Dynasties is more clear:
The country is not short of history, and history is not short of officials, so there were members of left history and right history in ancient times. His article is based on the four histories and is hidden in the golden chamber and stone room, so the day of respecting the name is right; For the sake of saying that it is a secret place, if you are reckless and unpredictable, it will fall short. The word "barnyard grass" is still small, but some people are right, barnyard grass, and some people are Masanosuke.
According to Zhou Confucianism, "history" refers to the kind of historical records that are opposite to "official history", "from the view of ancient mountains and rivers", and historical materials come from customs; "It's embarrassing to publish a birthday, it's really empty and unpredictable", and the content is shallow; "The day of fame is short" and its status is relatively low. "Insufficient" means "inferior". Zheng Qing Guan Ying said in "Under the Senior High School Entrance Examination": "After the expiration of the senior high school entrance examination, you can refer to your three-year study and get details." In the Qing Dynasty, Zhang's Shang Yang said: "Legalists and knife and pen officials have unparalleled superiority and sincerity!" "Shi" is a biased word here, and its semantic focus should be on the word "history". Zhou Confucianism's interpretation of "history" was influenced by the interpretation of "official" in Hanshu Yiwenzhi. "History of Hanshu Art and Literature" said: "Novelists flow because of officials. Street talk, hearsay. " Wei Ruchun noted: "Nine Chapters", "polished rice is barnyard grass". Talking about the streets and lanes, its fine words are also. The king wanted to know the custom of asking the lane, so he set up an official to say. " After quoting Ruchun's note, Tang Yan Shigu added another note: "Official, little official." [8] Shigu interpreted barnyard grass as "small", which was influenced by Ruchun's "polished rice is barnyard grass" and originated from Guangya. "Guangya" Volume II "Interpretation" says: "Yan, Xiao Ye."
From the description and definition of "history" in the above two prefaces, we can see that the value judgment of "history" is very obvious and has the meaning of "contempt and humility". History of People's Republic of China (PRC), as a kind of historical records, records all trivial conversations and anecdotes that the official compiles history. In fact, on most occasions, the word "official history" appears in the same way as "official history" and "unofficial history". Yuan's Preface to Chen Ji says: "The ancients also had their hometown history, so they admonished them for good and evil. Only the son of heaven has history in later generations, while Shu Ren has virtue. Without a wise scholar-bureaucrat, his listeners all despise him. Handwritten essays, biographies, essays, and friendly discussions from around the world are all aimed at unofficial history. Later, people who studied national history have to take them, so people in unofficial history are also lost in ancient history? " In the Ming Dynasty, Wang Shizhen's Yi Yuan Yan (Volume VI) thought that "Yang (Shen) wrote scriptures but neglected to interpret them, and was rich in history but neglected to make official history". Zhao Qing 'an's Xiao Ting Miscellaneous Notes, Volume II, History of the Jin and Yuan Dynasties, said: "Since ancient times, history has been as numerous as that of the Song Dynasty. Although Qin Shu's New Biography and Fu Bi's Record are not without slander, a generation of documents can be preserved by Laizi, and scholars can help the official history. " There are 47 1 "official history" and 10 "non-official history" in You Dongming's Records of Arts and Literature in Qing Dynasty. The official history is listed in the History Department of the General Catalogue of Sikuquanshu, and the Preface to Official History says: "The name of official history is found in Sui Zhi and is scheduled for the Song Dynasty. The Supervisory Board published in Ming Dynasty is one twentieth of the four histories of Song, Liao, Jin and Yuan Dynasties. The emperor authorized the Ming History and increased the number of Old Tang Books to 20. Soon, Four Treasures of the Study was the History of the Old Five Dynasties compiled by Xue, which was tied with Ouyang Xiu's book, and * * * was four out of twenty. Today was recorded from the official school. Anyone who has not been judged by Chen knows that it is not too much. Cover the official history, respect the righteousness and match the classics, do not hang government decrees, and dare not increase privately. Reason is different from the official history. " "If you don't judge, you won't get too much information." "If you don't hang up the decree, you dare not increase it privately." The tone judgment is quite harsh. The official of Siku Library emphasized the aristocratic status of the official history, highlighted the official lineage of the official history of "imperial edict" and "imperial system", and also reflected the low status of Chen Shi. It is worth noting that, although the writings of various dynasties consider Chen's history to be humble, it is very important to emphasize the documentary value of his "admonition" and the understanding of "helping to correct history". It is a very important theoretical basis for later generations to attach novels to history and call "novels" history. Generally speaking, the author of "Chen Shi" holds the idea of "taking history as a mirror to make up for the shortcomings", and the contents recorded are either taboo or disdainful, or not as good as the official history, so the contents are complicated, but there are often precious documents and materials, which are an important source of materials for future generations to write official history. The History of Jingkang contains seven kinds of unofficial history, such as Xuan He Yi Si's trip to Jin State, which recorded the change of Jingkang in the Northern Song Dynasty. They recorded in great detail the historical events such as the murder of Song and Jin Dynasties, the death of Bianjing, and the northward migration of the imperial clan in the Northern Song Dynasty, which is of great historical value. Biography of Chen Shi includes 65,438+03 biographies of Wang Gen, Ke and Wang Mian, most of whom are friends or acquaintances, and the information is more detailed and reliable. It was used in Zhu Yizun's Biography of Wang Mian in Qing Dynasty and Ke Zhuan in Ke Shaozhi's New Yuan History. Chen's book collection is extensive and all-encompassing. Li Ting believes that the Collection of History of Chen Houji is "based on the ancient times and taking the clan as a profession". How can you pick a peacock's algae feather and take off the horn of a rhinoceros elephant, and compare it with those who just joke about it? "It is advisable for him to drive with the wind and the yard. Chen Shi, compiled by Song Qifeng, records more than 50 pieces of legacy/kloc-0 from Ming Dynasty to early Qing Dynasty, which is an important material for studying the anecdotes of Ming Dynasty courts. Sun Kaidi thinks that "The History of Stone Gardens" "besides trivial matters, there are often anecdotes from Jia Zheng, which are also indispensable for textual research".
The content can be seen from time to time for reference in textual research, which is only one aspect of the characteristics of Chen Shi. On the other hand, Chen Shi "is a rhetorical matter, which is not similar to Chunqiu, Historical Records and Hanshu, and is not right for Shi Ce", "Scholars write their own books, either from Ren Huang or from modern times, but the system has not passed" and "has a commission". The former ensures the existence value of Chen Shi, while the latter leads to the low status of Chen Shi. It is the mixed nature of Chen's history that makes it inextricably linked with novels. Later generations often compare novels to Chen Shi, and compare novels with Chen Shi because they have too many similarities in subject matter, narrative style and value status.
two
As a literary concept, "Chen Shi" refers to a novel that happened in the context of the increasingly prosperous novel creation in Ming and Qing Dynasties. "Four Snow Cottage Continues the Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties" said: "It is called Zuo Tu You Shi in ancient times, and the image communication has a long history. They are all pictures in today's history. Either indecent or rude. " "Three-point Dreams are Typical" said: "Every story is not as good as the previous one, but the second half of this book has a better meaning. The more you look at the end, the more interesting it is." As a historical concept, people mostly emphasize its documentary value of proving history; As a literary concept, people often highlight its touching artistic charm. Wu Zhancheng's Preface to the Foreign History of Yanshan in Qing Dynasty said: "Those who seek favors from history are called difficulties and setbacks. Zhai Yun's genius is bold and unique. One breath, ups and downs, virtual and real. Historians have no such talent, and couples have no such structure. It is also a masterpiece of eternal love. " Wang Yin said in The Odd Sequence of Ancient and Modern Qing Dynasty: "Those who travel in the Chen Shi world don't know geometry. Or as strange and mysterious words, or as gorgeous and immoral. It is not necessarily true, and its writing is not necessarily elegant. You will be surprised if you unfold the roll. " "Over and over again, truth and falsehood coexist" and "what they do is not necessarily true, and what they say is not necessarily elegant", which is different from what historians think is "can help the official history" and "can be the capital for textual research". The reference object of "Chen Shi" has changed, and its stylistic features and value functions have also changed accordingly. One is a historical record and the other is a novel. What are their similarities? How to transition from "historical history" to "literary history"? By analyzing the early meaning of the word "novel", we find that it is reasonable to refer to the novel with "history", and this reference also reflects people's deep-rooted and far-reaching novel concept.
The word "scholar" itself originated from "Guan Shu". Since Han Zhi asserted that "novelists flow and are covered by officials", "officials" have become synonymous with "novels". As for the explanation of "Yan Guan", some people think that he is the son of heaven, while others think that he is a local soldier, a military commander in Zhou Guan, a court official in Han Dynasty, an assistant alchemist, and so on. His role is to recite ancient rumors, Kyushu customs, geography, geography and cultivation of immortals for the king. No matter what it means, "Li Guan" is just a general term with different official names in different times. Judging from its responsibilities, "Li Guan" is actually equivalent to "history", but it is different from people who record the words and deeds of kings, such as Zuo's and You's, who record old events, folk customs and other "gossip and hearsay". Han Zhi's "novel" and "novel" in the modern sense are not the same concept, and the connotation and extension are far from each other, but they are very consistent with the early meaning of "Chen Shi". The novels recorded in Hanzhi are generally "hearsay". Today, people often demonstrate its fiction on this basis, and then prove that it is synonymous with novels in the modern sense. However, Han Zhi's original intention of "gossip and hearsay" is not to highlight the fictional characteristics of "novel", but to emphasize that "novel" comes from the unofficial identity of old folk stories. Nevertheless, the novel recorded in Han Zhi still has the characteristics and functions of history. There are fifteen novels recorded in Han Zhi, and the words "shallow", "relying on" and "circuitous" are all marked after Yi Yin Tales, Shi Kuang Tales, Tianyi Tales and Huangdi Tales, and after Xunzi Tales and Wu Tales, they are marked as "added by later generations" and "not archaic". After Zhou Kao, Kao Zhou Ji and Notes on Ancient History after Qing Shizi clearly tell us the historical characteristics of these two novels. Judging from the narrative content of the fifteen novels, they also have the nature of "history". According to Lu Chunqiu (volume 14) and the last chapter, Yi Yin was a cook, and he went to make soup as a slave. He even talked about the beauty of fish, fruits and vegetables, and the beauty of meals to explain Saint Wang Zhidao. Among them, the paragraph "The beauty of fruit, east of Jishan Mountain, where the bluebird lives, is sweet" is also quoted by Han Yingshao under the word "Qi" in Han Shu Yi Yin (quoted from Historical Records and Shanglin Fu) and Han Xushen's Shuo Wen Jie Zi; The beauty of rice is the grain of the Xuanshan Mountain and the yak of the South China Sea. See also the quotation of "consumption" in Shuowen Jiezi. Therefore, Yu Jiaxi thinks that the content of Yi Yin's theory is generally about "the sum of fire and water, the beauty of fish, vegetables and rice, and the talk of small people knowing each other in the street". A relic in Qing Shi Zi can be found in Dai Li's Book of Rites Fu Bao and Jia Yi's new book Ten Things about Prenatal Education, which records various methods of prenatal education for the Queen. The Book of Rites Fu Bao, which was quoted from Dai Li, recorded the entry and travel rules of ancient people. The other one is found in Volume 8 of General Meaning of Customs, which records the meaning of offering sacrifices to chickens at the end of the year. All three are trivial matters in the moral code. Li Zhou Guan Chun's "Brief History" said that the short history "uses courtesy to the country and manages affairs for the people", and what is contained in "Qing Shi Zi" coincides with his position. It is precisely because the notes are trivial and mostly gossip that Ban Gu is classified as a novelist. Yu Jiaxi commented on Japan: "His book was cited by Jia Yi and Dade, which was the most credible and his words were extremely mellow and gratifying. You can see the face of an ancient novelist. " There are 943 articles in Zhou Shuo in Yuchu and Selected Works of Xijing Fu, saying: "Bandits have secret skills and 900 novels, which originated in Yuchu. Relax, save it. " On the same day, Mr. Xue wrote: "There are 943 novels about healing witches and wishing them happiness, with 900 words and plenty of examples. If you have this secret technology, you can take it with you and you will always have it when you ask questions. " [20] It can be seen that the 943 novels recorded in "Zhou Shuo at the beginning of Jade" are mostly the art of witch doctors and the art of hating wishes, which is also an old folk custom in Luxiang. Judging from the function of ancient novels, Sui Shu's Annals of the Classics and the novelists of the Ministry said: "The ancient sage is on the top, history is a book of poems, public admonition, medical admonition, scholar biography, and Shu Ren slander. Meng Chun, who is loyal to Muduo ballads, travels in the province, reads people's poems and understands customs. Correct it if it passes; Correct if you lose; If you hear hearsay, you will never finish your discipline. Zhou Guan, reciting the motto "Guan Fang Zhi looks at things with faith, and Tao Fang avoids them with faith to know the local customs"; Indeed, the Fang Xun family' manages the politics of the Quartet, which is different from its ambition. It is the preaching of the Quartet and the observation of clothes.' " It can be seen that "novel", like "book", "poem", "remonstration" and "remonstration", shoulders the mission of making the king "do something and not do something". It can be seen that the fifteen novels recorded in Han Zhi are not literary novels, but history books, no matter from the author's identity, historian's comments, or the specific content and value function. They are called "novels" only because their historical sources and authorship are different from those of official history and official historians, and their status is relatively low. "Small" people, as opposed to "big", say their status is low. Although many pre-Qin classics such as Yi Yinshuo have been changed or relied on, the authenticity of their records is in doubt, but at least the content of Qing Shi Zi is true and credible, so Yu Jiaxi's Aspects of Ancient Novelists is not equivalent to a novel in the modern sense, but a synonym for "official history", which can help the official history. "Sui Shu Jing Ji Zhi" says: "Ten-volume novels are from Shi Yinyun, the head of a secluded monastery in Liang Wudi." Know a few "Shi Tong ZaShuo" said: "Liu's" Art Garden "said: Jin armory caught fire, Emperor Gaozu cut the snake, and the sword flew through the house. Nobody listened to his words, and Liang Wudi asked Yin Yun to write it into a novel. "Yao Zhenzong's Textual Research on Sui Shu's Historical Records said:" This case is almost when Liang Wudi wrote a general history. Anything that is not said and is not taken by the general history makes Yin Yun a novel. It is better to take advantage of it because the novel is written by the general history. " [22] It is the choice made by the dominant official history consciousness to accept historical materials that do not conform to the classics as novels. Yin Yun's novel may have some novel concepts that are in line with modern significance, but in the context at that time, it was first produced as a historical record, which did not conform to the official history such as unofficial history. Therefore, Yao Zhenzong believes that "novels are written because of general history, so it is better to take general history". It can also be clearly seen from Wang Qi's Preface to Historical Records: "There are beauty and ugliness in official history, and we should be prepared and admonished. If the official history can't be exhausted, scholars in Linshanzaze will look for the heritage, and it won't become a novel at that time, so writers would rather scrap it. It can be seen that since Yin Yun's novels, it is not uncommon to regard allusions and anecdotes that the official history can't accept and don't want to accept as novels. Later generations often call novels "Chen Shi", "unofficial history" and "Rencheng", which can be regarded as official history, and this is also the truth.
three
There was too much overlap in the connotation and extension of the early novels and the official history, which made later generations demand that novels and the official history should not be separated for a long time, forming the novel concept that novels are outside the official history (that is, the official history), and many authors even quoted the official history, unofficial history and the official history directly. Xiong Ming's "Preface to the Mu Romance of the Great Song Dynasty" thinks that "the official history is not prepared by the official history" [24], while the "Guqi Preface" by Master Xiao Hua is more specific:
Novelists, except official history. The transformation and rickets of people contained in Zhuang and Liezi were not listed in history in the past; Mu Tianzi, Biography of Four Gentlemen and Wu Yue Chun Qiu are all novels and the like. Legacy of Kaiyuan, Red Line, Warrior, Xiangwan and Yinniang are all biographies, while Bus and Jane Eyre are novels with proper names, but they are elegant and fluent, which Han Yan can learn from.
In the Qing Dynasty, the concept of equating novels with official history and treating them as official history was quite popular, and it almost became * * * knowledge. Jin Shengtan said that "the fable of history is also history" [25], Cai's Preface to the History of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty thought that "the official is also a branch of history, and his words are specially interpreted", and Wu thought that "history has both pros and cons, so it is true that it came here" [26]. I have to say, why not! [27] The poem "Water Margin" holds the same view on the relationship between novel, history and official history: "Alas! Is the rise and fall of articles only official history? Today, Huang Wu, Fang Shuo, Yan Fei, Lingyun, Yizhou and Liu Yi are all biographies, either gorgeous or desolate. " [28] The popularity of the concept that novels are official history urges readers to read novels from the perspective of reading history. Zhang Xuecheng criticized The Romance of the Three Kingdoms as "seven points of fact and three points of fiction" [29], which is based on reading The Romance of the Three Kingdoms; Xiao Ting Zalu believes that "although all novels about the history of Chen Shi are nonsense, they are sometimes well-founded. "For example, Wang Lun and Ping Yao in Water Margin can be found in Ouyang Gong's plays and Tang Dynasty, as well as Ju Xiang Ji" [30]. Yang Lianyou's "Preface to Four Friends in Ghost Valley" claims that "I am interested in reading hundreds of biographies and biographies. Although the novel is shallow, I must investigate its source and often compare the past with the present." ..... The first World Bulletin is also a history, and it is not enough to rely on it. However, Mencius said that "the state of Jin is the world's Mo Qiang" can be summed up in a word, which is also based on historical records. The tangled relationship between this novel and Historical Records even influenced the novel criticism in Qing Dynasty. Wang and others think that "the water margin is detailed, the blood runs through, and historical records are books" [3 1], Jin Shengtan thinks that "the laws of the water margin are all from historical records" [32], and Mao Zonggang says that "the Three Kingdoms are easy to record, just like historical records". Compare Water Margin, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Jin Ping Mei, etc. With "Historical Records", of course, there is an objective fact that the novel author draws lessons from "Historical Records". In addition, I'm afraid that people regarded the novel as unofficial history at that time, which led the critics to subjectively regard Historical Records as the official history to raise the value of the novel.
With the increasing prosperity of novel creation, the status and value of novels are gradually valued by the world, and people's thinking about novels as the ontological characteristics of literary types is also deepening. Since the late Qing Dynasty, although it is still common to call novels "official history", it rarely appears as the concept of Historical Records in this context. What people care about is no longer the historical significance of "helping the official history" and "researching", but its literary characteristics, structure, imagination, association and fiction. In the sixth episode of "Dream of a Brothel", there is a dialogue that describes the protagonist Jin Cuo Lane and his views on the novel, saying:
I feel very cute when I smell a strange fragrance. After a while, Su Yue also went to bed, so she asked Cui Xiang, "What do you do for fun at home on weekdays?" Yi Xiang said: "I like drinking and reciting poems every day, but in my spare time, I do nothing but read unofficial history as a pastime." Said, "Who can be the first in Chen's history?" Cui Xiang said, "Love is lingering, and the story of natural stone comes first. Of all the other grammar chapters, six is the most natural. There is a cloud in "Variety":' Like a warbler crowing outside'. What a brushwork the word' flower outside' is! ……"
"Six Talents" is Li Zhuowu's evaluation of The West Chamber, the sixth talented person. Here, people pay attention to the lingering sadness and grammatical chapters of Chen Shi, and no longer care about the extent to which The Story of the Stone and The West Chamber can help the official history [35]. In a few words, another scholar, The Origin of the Department Attached to the Seal of Our Museum, said: "The discipline of books is called history by personnel; It's called the history of books. " [36] It is the duty of historians to record what has happened, while recording what may happen belongs to the category of literature. Aristotle thought: "The poet's duty is not to describe what has happened, but to describe what may happen, that is, what may happen according to the law of possibility or inevitability." [37] Regarding the distinction between "history" (referring to historical records) and "official history" (referring to novels), several scholars and others have the same view. The writer who can best embody the modern literary significance of Chen Shi is Warren's American novels and the novel process of drama critic Hamilton. The book translates the English word "f i c t i o n" into "the history of the city", and says that "the purpose of the history of the city is to clarify the truth of life with imaginary and coherent facts", and "any literary work whose purpose is to clarify the truth of life with imaginary and coherent facts is called the history of the city" [38]. The direct correspondence between Chen's history and western novels is completely different from the definition of Zhou Confucianism in Ming Dynasty. At this point, the word "Chen Shi" has changed from a historical concept to a literary concept.
Through the above analysis, we believe that "Chen Shi" was originally a historical concept, which refers to a kind of historical records that recorded old news and folk customs. Its historical source, narrative system and author's identity are different from the official history, so its status is low, but it has certain documentary value, which can help the official history and is very similar to the early novel (Chen Guan) in terms of specific content, value function and status, so people often call the novel "Chen Shishi". With the changes in narrative skills and stylistic functions of novels, the meaning of the word "Chen Shi" also changes, and finally becomes a literary concept. "Official history" refers to the long process of "novel", which reflects China's long-standing novel concept outside the official history.